Accept text from either LaunchBar or Quicksilver in Applescript

Here’s the thing: I absolutely adore LaunchBar. I use it constantly throughout the day, and if I’m using a computer without LaunchBar I practically can’t function because I keep habitually hitting the LaunchBar shortcut and opening Spotlight on accident. So when I write Applescripts that I want to accept text and do something with it, I use LaunchBar-specific code.

However, there’s a large number of people out there who prefer Quicksilver (link to Google Code project; also see Blacktree’s site). I don’t know if it’s for the sexier (if more complicated) interface or just because they’ve got Quicksilver embedded in their fingers as badly as I’ve got LaunchBar in mine, but they’re unlikely to switch anytime soon.

And then there’s the folks out there who haven’t discovered the joys of a launcher program and just run Applescripts manually or with something like FastScripts.

All of which adds up to a bit of a conundrum if you want to share your favorite Applescripts with the world. Fortunately, with a bit of Googling and some good old trial and error, I’ve written a simple Applescript template that allows all users, no matter how they like to launch scripts, to use yours. Without further ado, here’s the code:

-- You'll want to rename this function something appropriate
on action_function(someText)
-- Check to see if we've got text, ask for it if not
if someText is equal to "" then
set question to display dialog ("Enter text:") default answer ""
set someText to text returned of question
end if
-- Do whatever your script does here
end action_function
-- Quicksilver tie-in code
using terms from application "Quicksilver"
on process text qsText
my action_function(qsText)
end process text
end using terms from
-- LaunchBar tie-in function
on handle_string(lbText)
my action_function(lbText)
open location "x-launchbar:hide"
end handle_string
-- Call the function in case the script was run directly
-- (Don't worry; this line won't execute if called from LB or QS)
my action_function("")

If you’re familiar with Applescript, the code should be pretty self-explanatory. You wrap all of the scripts actions into a function (called action_function in the example), and then call that function using the specific access routines for Quicksilver or LaunchBar (with a normal call to the function included just in case the user directly accesses the script). The code within action_function is merely a fall-back in case it receives a blank string (you’ll likely only need the fallback if they are calling the script directly). I leave any more specific error checking to you.

This template specifically accepts text; if your script needs to process a list of files, for example, you’ll need to change the code for the various programs appropriately (how specifically to do that I leave up to you, but the general template should still serve you well). One caveat is that if you’re compiling the code, you’ll need Quicksilver installed (even if you only use LaunchBar). However, as far as I can tell, if you’re just running the Applescript you don’t need to have either program installed (or you can have just one or the other). The main downside of needing both to compile is that if you rely on your users to adjust config variables in your script, then they will need to install Quicksilver (unless you include instructions to remove Quicksilver’s code if they aren’t using it).

Let me know if you run into any trouble using this code! I haven’t run into any errors with it in my testing, but that certainly doesn’t mean that they don’t exist.